PESHAWAR  -  Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ali Amin Gandapur on Wednesday instruct­ed the relevant quarters to come up with a comprehensive plan for promot­ing tourism as an industry in the prov­ince, adding that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been gifted with diverse cultural heritage, enormous beauty and stunning landscapes, which needed to be utilised effectively by developing tourist-friend­ly infrastructure, extending facilities and attracting local and foreign investment.

“The development of tourism sector on modern lines would not only generate employment opportunities for locals but would ultimately contribute to the provin­cial economy,” he remarked while presid­ing over a meeting of the Tourism Depart­ment, held here at Chief Minister’s House.

Advisor to Chief Minister for tourism Zahid Chan Zeb, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Amjad Ali Khan and other relevant officials also attended the meet­ing. The participants were briefed about the administrative affairs of the depart­ment, development projects, future planning and integrated tourism zones being established in Malakand and Haz­ara divisions.

The Chief Minister on the occasion di­rected the quarters concerned to devise a comprehensive plan for promoting ec­otourism in the province, and said that we need to have more concerted and re­sult-oriented approaches not only to­wards preserving the natural beauty of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but for promoting responsible tourism as well.

He also directed them to set up al­ternate bazars in the congested tourist spots of the province and to ensure car parking facility as a compulsory compo­nent of planning for new tourist sites. He further directed to provide recreation­al facilities, clean drinking water and sustainable sewerage system at tour­ist spots, besides rest areas and masajid at some distance on the roads towards tourist destinations.

Similarly, the Chief Minister directed to devise a plan for effective and judicious use of properties owned by the Tourism Department and said that all such prop­erties can be utilised not only for facil­itating tourists but contributing to the provincial income. He directed them to carry out classification of lease policy for government’s tourist sites so as to pro­vide investment opportunities to both the small and large scale investors.

Local people should be preferred for investment in the relevant tourist sites, he directed and made it clear that devel­opment of tourism sector is one of the priority areas of his government, consid­ering its importance to provide employ­ment opportunities to the people.

Ali Amin Gandapur also directed the quarters concerned to speed up work on integrated tourism zones projects in Ab­bottabad, Mansehra, Swat and Chitral, further directing them to attract foreign investment in this regard. Furthermore, he directed for installation of more camping pods of international standard at tourist spots in the province. He di­rected to increase the number of private members in the boards of semi-govern­ment entities administered by the tour­ism department, and added that the professionals should be included in the boards. Necessary amendments in the relevant legal framework be proposed for this purpose, he directed.